Convention Center's expansion approved

OK given despite selection-process questions.

A witness speaks to the San Antonio City Council concerning a city ordinance that is proposed to regulate predatory lending during the San Antonio City Council on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012.

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As Pat DiGiovanni sees it, voters are susceptible to organizers and politicians looking to kill streetcar because no one has clearly articulated the point of tying parts of downtown together with rails. September 27, 2012

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Seniors chant "Diego" in support of City Councilman Diego Bernal, center, as he talks with them concerning the city ordinance he had drafted to regulate predatory lenders during the lunch break of the San Antonio City Council Meeting where the item is being discussed on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012.

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Carlos Gonzalez, right, with Westend Edgewood Senior Team, fires up a group of seniors including Helen Dawson, from left, Lucille Scott and T.C. Calvert in support of the city ordinance to regulate predatory lenders during the lunch break of the San Antonio City Council meeting where the item is being discussed on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012.

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City Council members David Medina, left, and Rey Saldana, right, watch as Deacon Pat Rogers, Director of Communications for the Archdiocese of San Antonio, speaks on behalf of the Archdiocese in support of the city ordinance concerning regulations for predatory lenders during the San Antonio City Council meeting on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012.

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Applause erupts from the crowd filling City Council chambers as speakers advocate for their sides in the discussion concerning the city ordinance to regulate predatory lending during the San Antonio City Council on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012.

The City Council launched the costliest capital project in San Antonio history Thursday by approving a $325 million expansion of the Convention Center, after the mayor conceded the award process was “not optimal” and that the public deserves “an honest process.”

DiGiovanni defended his acceptance of the CEO role at Centro Partnership, a downtown revitalization advocacy group whose vice chairman is president and CEO of Zachry Corp. David Zachry.

He said Wednesday that “I wasn't going to work for Zachry and there's no evidence that I influenced anyone on the panel.”

Hunt-Zachry Joint Venture was tapped to design and build the expansion that would make the facility one of the 10 largest in the nation by 2016.

Castro praised the selection procedure and called the project “fantastically important” to the city's efforts to lure conventions.

“Once this Convention Center expansion is complete, it's going to make San Antonio even more competitive in terms of hosting the most significant and most lucrative conventions — and being able to host more than one significant convention at a time,” he said.

“Pat DiGiovanni is a real man of integrity who's done a great job at the city. ... It is a point well-taken about how we can get even better. But the folks out there should know that it was an honest and meritorious process, and one that we're comfortable voting on,” he said.

At Castro's request, City Manager Sheryl Sculley recounted the process and defended its outcome.

When scores were recounted without DiGiovanni's input, “Hunt-Zachry comes out a little bit higher,” Sculley said, and two of three private-sector evaluators ranked Hunt-Zachry highest.

“So, it looked overwhelming in terms of their overall recommendation,” Sculley said. “I'm confident there is no wrongdoing on his part ... I'm confident we have a process with integrity, and if anything, we've learned something from this process,” Sculley said.

Councilman Reed Williams pressed staffers on whether there was any undue influence from DiGiovanni or others, but they insisted there was none.

“That's important because we have to rely on a broad group of people to come to a consensus that in this case was totally overwhelming,” Williams said.

Expansion of the Convention Center will bolster exhibit and meeting spaces on its east end and create options for redevelopment of HemisFair Park at the west end.

The council authorized a five-year contract with Hunt-Zachry — a partnership that includes Populous Inc., and Marmon Mok Architects — not to exceed $304.8 million.

Also approved was an $8 million agreement with Project Control of Texas Inc. for construction and design management, environmental and cultural assessments and public relations. The remainder of the $325 million outlay is for city staff, environmental costs, construction inspections and permits.

Frisbie said the Convention Center has more than 300 events annually with 750,000 guests, “but this project is going to catapult the city from the 22nd spot in the country up into the top 10.”

The project goal, he said, is to increase exhibit space from 426,000 square feet to more than 500,000 square feet.

The project will be followed by demolition of the facility's west wing, “which will free up a 12-acre parcel for the HemisFair Park master plan to come to fruition,” he said. On the east end, where SAWS' former headquarters is being demolished, Market and Bowie streets and Tower of the Americas Way will be reconfigured.

In 1997, the City Council approved a $110 million contract for the first major phase of an expansion project at the Convention Center.

Design on the new work starts next month; construction begins in a year and completion would be in April 2016, Frisbie said.